DUCK-SHOOTING. 261 



Having ascertained by several ineffectual shots 

 that they were far out of range, we watched them 

 with delight and curiosity, wondering whence they 

 could all come, and whither they were going. There 

 was no abatement or pause till the increasing dark- 

 ness shut them out from our sight. Had we been 

 prepared with Ely's wire cartridge we could have 

 rained destruction among them, but as it was we 

 only killed a few chance birds ; and then reassem- 

 bling our party where the open lead joined the bay, 

 we returned to the club-house together. 



The next day being clear and still, it was devoted 

 to fishing and exploring. A Kentuckian who was 

 among our numbers, having no fishing in his own 

 State, and knowing nothing of salmon or striped- 

 bass, and little of trout, was devoted to black-bass fish- 

 ing. Persuading the writer to go in the boat with 

 him, while two friends accompanied us in another, 

 we crossed the bay, and having fastened large Buel's 

 spoons to the end of stout hand-lines, proceeded to 

 troll in the most primitive manner. 



The bass were plentiful, and rushing from their 

 lairs in the weeds close to the shore, darted out 

 after the boat had passed, and devoured our baits. 

 Although quite large, they gave feeble play, turning 

 over and over in the water, and rarely jumping with 

 the vigor of fish brought up in cooler latitudes ; in 

 fact, the river and lake bass differ so greatly as to 

 seem almost to belong to different species. The river 

 fish, which lie in the discolored water where long 

 weeds grow from a bottom of deep mud, are yellow 



